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When Macbeth shows up on stage he’s covered in blood from the battlefield. Later he’s covered in the assassinated King Duncan’s blood and smearing it on his wife, Lady Macbeth. Then, he orders henchmen to spill his buddy Banquo’s blood, who in turn returns from the grave to spill Macbeth’s … Continue reading →

Helen’s neighbor Susan is ebullient. She bursts forth with conversation like a shaken carbonated water. The Brits call it fizzy water, except Susan is not British, she is Canadian. We’ve joined her and her family for dinner to celebrate her niece Megan’s master’s degree in archeology from Oxford. Susan pops … Continue reading →

We first spot the garden of Hampton Court from the window of one of its grand staterooms. It beckons us. We’ve already passed through Henry VIII’s Great Hall lined with fading floor-to-ceiling tapestries, site of great dinners where plenty of wine was poured and the gossip of the day flowed. With six … Continue reading →

Lonely Planet describes the Engineer as one of London’s first gastropubs. It is in North London and not far from where I am now, in Kilburn, so I decide to go for a late lunch. Ugo has gone to work and left me in her gorgeous, renovated flat. When I … Continue reading →

There is a 100-foot column split in two on display in theVictoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington. Naina and I can’t imagine how it got there. It takes the breath of any visitor who enters the cast gallery. Except this isn’t a cast it is the real thing. A Roman … Continue reading →

We aren’t sure if we are watching a marching band at the Macy’s Day Parade or the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace when we hear the James Bond theme music, followed by “Goldfinger” and “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” But we are definitely in front of Buckingham Palace watching the guys … Continue reading →

I didn’t quite want to reach down and grab a handful of grass and eat it, but I was definitely thrilled to be touring the grounds of the All England Tennis and Lawn Club. Finally, I’d made it to Wimbeldon and I didn’t even have to lift a racket! I am sure … Continue reading →

We are in the process of walking through a herd of cows when Helen mentions Oxford’s etymological origins. Oxford means literally ox fjord or ox passage way. It makes sense in the current situation. She also says the cows won’t bother us if we don’t bother them. I just take … Continue reading →